Third Brit killed in French Alps avalanche days after Val d’Isère deaths
A British man has been killed in an avalanche in the French Alps near La Grave on Tuesday, days after three people including two Brits died at Val d’Isère ski resort
It comes after an earlier avalanche struck Val-d’Isere, France (file)(Image: Julien Goldstein, Getty Images)
A British man has lost his life in an avalanche in the French Alps. He had been skiing with a group of four others when the avalanche hit near the resort town of La Grave on Tuesday morning, local media reported.
Mountain rescue teams rushed to the scene but the Briton and a Polish citizen were declared dead, according to the BBC. It follows just days after two British men were amongst three fatalities in an avalanche at the Val d’Isère ski resort on Friday morning.
Local authorities have launched investigations to establish the cause of death in both avalanches, the BBC reported.
On Tuesday, an avalanche warning was issued for the Northern Alps and the Hautes-Alpes, which includes La Grave, by Météo-France, the country’s national weather service.
It said the avalanche risk remains high on Wednesday as sunshine is forecast, leading to thawing ice.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has been contacted for comment.
Earlier this week, we reported the off-piste skiers who died were Stuart Leslie, 46, and Shaun Overy, 51.
The pair were among a group of four skiers who were struck by the avalanche in Val d’Isère and tragically lost their lives.
The group were engulfed by the avalanche while skiing in the Manchet valley with an instructor on Friday (February 13). Stuart and Shaun were carried to the base of the slope into a stream, where their bodies were discovered by emergency services afterwards.
A third person also perished in the avalanche, a French national who had been skiing in the vicinity. Local reports indicated another Brit was also injured in the avalanche but managed to free himself from the overwhelming snow.
The avalanche occurred less than 24 hours after the area had been put on red alert for only the second time since the warning system was established 25 years ago. The deadly incident happened after Storm Nils dumped between 60 and 100 of snow across the region, with the thunderous avalanche thundering down the mountain at 11:30am.
Meanwhile in Italy, an avalanche engulfed three people at a ski resort. Disaster struck at Val Veny, a section of the Courmayeur resort in northern Italy, around 11am CET (10am GMT) on Sunday.
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